Teaching Interests:
Here at SUNY Fredonia I teach Introductory Biology, Animal Biology and
Evolution, and Animal Biology and Evolution Lab. I also teach Biostatistics and
Animal Behavior. Other teaching interests I have include evolutionary biology,
insect biology, and comparative anatomy. Seminar interests include animal
communication, social behavior, neuroethology, sensory ecology, and bioacoustics.

Research Interests:

My research interests lie within the fields of behavioral ecology, animal
behavior (specifically animal communication), and bioacoustics. My
research focuses on whether microchiropteran bats use their echolocation calls
for social communication. Echolocation calls are known to function in prey
capture and navigation for bat species, however, they have not been commonly
regarded as communicatory signals. Echolocation calls have been shown to
have variation linked to the age, sex, family, and individual identity of the
bat that produced the calls. I have found and described similar variation
in the echolocation calls of big brown bats. In addition, I have shown
that female bats respond differentially to the echolocation calls of males and
females. My results provide one of only two pieces of evidence that bats
respond to intraspecific differences in echolocation calls. These
findings suggest that echolocation calls, which have presumably been shaped by
natural selection for prey capture, have also been co-opted for use in communication.

My other main research interest is the interaction of bats and insects. I
have begun to investigate the possibility that bats use the sounds insects
produce in flight to passively locate prey items at moderate distances.
If this is indeed the case, I wish to determine whether bats discriminate
between preferred and non-preferred prey items using these sounds.
Another aspect of the bat-insect interaction that I find engaging is the
evolution of insect avoidance responses to bats. Several insects have
evolved defense responses evoked by hearing echolocation calls, including
elaborate flight maneuvers and emission of ultrasonic clicks. Three
theories have been put forth as to the function of such clicks; to startle the
bat, to jam the bat’s sonar processing, or to advertise the insect’s chemical
protection. Some headway has been made testing these different theories,
but the challenge of determining the relative importance of each remains.

Professional
Memberships:
Animal Behavior Society
American Society of Mammalogists
Northeastern Bat Working Group
National Association of Biology Teachers
National Science Teachers Association